Breaking news is published in print and online as it becomes available, which means not all information will be presented to the public at once.
Then, as more sources are interviewed and more information becomes available, updated stories will be posted online to keep readers apprised.
These stories follow the inverted pyramid formula, which means the newest information will be at the top of the story and a recap of the situation will be deeper in the story to provide context.
Each news story should be as complete as possible, but new information takes precedence over the background. Readers need to be aware of this when they read news.
Fortunately, those who have questions and want a deeper understanding of a story can look up previous stories online to find the nuances of each development.
Readers are asked to seek a better understanding of the whole known story before they dismiss any one story as incomplete or inaccurate.
Reporters can’t wait until they have all the facts, all the responses, reactions and plot twists at once. For example, take last semester’s reports on adding EDUC 1300, Learning Framework, to the core curriculum.
Twenty-seven stories were written on the topic, the last of which was published April 11 in the last print issue of the spring semester.
The last story’s topic was the chancellor backing down from implementing the course as a requirement.
If the reporter working on the story had waited for every last detail of developments until the final spring issue to publish the whole story from start to finish, the information would have gotten to the readers months after the fact.
And the outcome would have been a lot different if readers didn’t have information as the story developed and protests from faculty and students arose.
The news creates awareness that can create an opportunity for dialogue and possibly change.
Each story may not contain the entire story immediately, but breaking news is published as it becomes available to keep readers current.
The paper seeks to inform its readers — one story at a time — of what Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward called the “best obtainable version of the truth.”
We know the story will change tomorrow so stay online with us.
